l On Saturday, Barnoldswick Town’s East Lancashire League side beat Earby Town 9-1 to claim a place in the Morrison Cup Semi-Final.

The opening few minutes were played out in a blizzard, but the young Town side raced into a 2-0 lead within the first 12 minutes, with Bailey Coates scoring both goals with two smart finishes.

Teal Amos and Jonathan Davies added further goals, and when Coates completed his hat-trick with a penalty, after being upended by a defender, the victory and passage into the next round was already secured.

All three substitutes were used at half-time, Holt, Venn and Amos being replaced by McKane, Hughes and Richardson, and this temporarily disrupted what had been virtually one-way traffic.

The tempo of Town’s game gradually returned, and Coates made it 6-0 when he added his fourth goal in the 60th minute.

The best goal of the game was scored in the 75th minute when James Hughes smashed an unstoppable 30-yard shot past Earby Town keeper Liam Green – who had an outstanding game – from outside the penalty area.

Bobby Bell made it 8-0 on 80 minutes, before a consolation goal for the visitors by Tony Ashton a minute later.

Coates ended a special afternoon for him by scoring his fifth goal on 83 minutes to make it 9-1, but Town were denied double figures when the referee Willie Naylor prematurely ended the game on 85 minutes.